You are not going to find
a team like this one.
Clinical experts. Curriculum architects. Regulation specialists. People who chose this work on purpose and have been growing in it for years.
Jacquelene brings 21 years of experience to this work โ 13 of them building Illuminate Academy from the ground up. The conviction at the center of IA is not the one most people expect: it is not about skills or academics first. It is about wellbeing. The research is clear that social-emotional wellbeing is what determines long-term success for people with autism โ not the ABCs or the 123s. That belief was not always where the work started, but it is where it has landed. And it is where it stays.
She holds the vision, the culture, the clinical direction, and the hiring โ and she is still actively in the room, leading Strategy Days and intensives, still learning, still convinced that the best version of IA is always the next one.
Three of the best
in their lanes.
Three directors. Three distinct lanes of deep expertise. An operations leader who makes the mission sustainable, a clinical OT who makes it scalable, and a BCBA who makes sure every decision puts learners first. Together they bring over 50 years of combined experience. Click any card to go deeper.
Crockett has spent over 15 years building the kind of operational foundation that makes a mission-driven organization actually work. He holds the business, brand, partnerships, and the family lifecycle at IA โ and he does it in a way that makes the whole place feel solid and safe. Families trust it. Staff trust it. That is not accidental โ that is Crockett.
Kelly is a pediatric occupational therapist and sensory specialist with over 20 years of experience โ and one of the most gifted integrators in the room. She holds learner development, Strategy Days, and the operational systems that make IA scalable without losing what makes it extraordinary. She has the rare ability to see the full picture and build toward it.
Heidi holds the clinical quality of everything at IA. As a BCBA with a deeply dignity-first, neuroaffirming approach, she ensures that every decision โ every plan, every hard moment response, every piece of clinical development โ is grounded in what is actually best for learners.
The people your family
meets every single day.
Family advocates. Curriculum leads. Operations specialists. Safety coordinators. The people who make the daily life of IA feel like the most intentional place your family has ever been a part of.
Sarah runs the family front line โ onboarding, billing, hospitality, and the first impression every family has of IA. She makes the experience feel like the values, not just the brand.
Hayley keeps the daily rhythm of IA steady, reliable, and scalable. Team Leads work directly with her. SOPs, schedules, classroom continuity โ Hayley holds the operating pulse of campus.
Julia owns instructional excellence across every IA classroom. When a learner is not growing, Julia is problem-solving. When instructors need coaching, Julia is there.
Emily holds the relational temperature of every IA family. She is the advocate in the room when things are hard, and the reason families feel known โ not just enrolled.
Lukas responds to hard moments in real time, coaches the team in the thick of it, and documents the patterns that make IA smarter every quarter. His presence on campus means no one is ever alone in a hard moment.
The heartbeat
of every classroom.
Our Team Leads are the senior presence in each room โ the connectors, the coaches, and the culture carriers. They are the reason every classroom at IA feels like the most intentional room your learner has ever been in.
The builders.
The architects.
Our instructional support specialists build the foundations that every classroom runs on โ curriculum that is rigorous, neuroaffirming, and beautiful to use.
Jessica architects the Connected Core Curriculum for K-5 โ math, ELA, science, and social studies โ designed for the way IA learners actually learn. She works remotely as part of the extended IA leadership team.
Hanna builds the visual tools, Canva assets, and learning resources that bring curriculum to life. If something in an IA classroom is clear, beautiful, and exactly right for the learner holding it โ Hanna likely built it.
